A Compactification of the Space of Plane Curves

We describe sequences of blowups of $\overline{M}_{0,5} \times \overline{M}_{0,5}$ and $\mathbf{P}^2 \times \mathbf{P}^2$ yielding a small resolution of the stable pair compactification $\overline{M}(3,6)$ of the moduli space $M(3,6)$ of six lines in $\mathbf{P}^2$. These blowup sequences can be viewed, respectively, as generalizations of Keel's and Kapranov's constructions of $\overline{M}_{0,n}$. We use these blowup sequences to describe the intersection theory of $\overlin...

These notes are intended as an easy-to-read supplement to part of the background material presented in my talks on enumerative geometry. In particular, the numbers $n_3$ and $n_4$ of plane rational cubics through eight points and of plane rational quartics through eleven points are determined via the classical approach of counting curves. The computation of the latter number also illustrates my topological approach to counting the zeros of a fixed vector bundle section that l...

We consider the moduli space of log smooth pairs formed by a cubic surface and an anticanonical divisor. We describe all compactifications of this moduli space which are constructed using Geometric Invariant Theory and the anticanonical polarization. The construction depends on a weight on the divisor. For smaller weights the stable pairs consist of mildly singular surfaces and very singular divisors. Conversely, a larger weight allows more singular surfaces, but it restricts...

In this paper, we study compactifications of the moduli of smooth del Pezzo surfaces using K-stability and the line arrangement. We construct K-moduli of log del Pezzo pairs with sum of lines as boundary divisors, and prove that for $d=2,3,4$, these K-moduli of pairs are isomorphic to the K-moduli spaces of del Pezzo surfaces. For $d=1$, we prove that they are different by exhibiting some walls.

The stable reduction theorem of Deligne and Mumford --- The moduli space of smooth projective curves of genus $g$ is a quasi-projective algebraic variety, but is not projective. To understand its geometry, it may be crucial to consider compactifications of this space. By allowing to parameterize as well curves with controlled singularities (the so called stable curves), Deligne and Mumford constructed a projective compactification. The properness of this compactification tran...

We describe two geometrically meaningful compactifications of the moduli space of elliptic K3 surfaces via stable slc pairs, for two different choices of a polarizing divisor, and show that their normalizations are two different toroidal compactifications of the moduli space, one for the ramification divisor and another for the rational curve divisor. In the course of the proof, we further develop the theory of integral affine spheres with 24 singularities. We also constr...

We construct proper good moduli spaces parametrizing K-polystable $\mathbb{Q}$-Gorenstein smoothable log Fano pairs $(X, cD)$, where $X$ is a Fano variety and $D$ is a rational multiple of the anti-canonical divisor. We then establish a wall-crossing framework of these K-moduli spaces as $c$ varies. The main application in this paper is the case of plane curves of degree $d \geq 4$ as boundary divisors of $\mathbb{P}^2$. In this case, we show that when the coefficient $c$ is ...

In this paper, we initiate our investigation of log canonical models for the moduli space of curves with the boundary divisor $\a \d$ as we decrease $\a$ from 1 to 0. We prove that for the first critical value $\a = 9/11$, the log canonical model is isomorphic to the moduli space of pseudostable curves, which have nodes and cusps as singularities. We also show that $\a = 7/10$ is the next critical value, i.e., the log canonical model stays the same in the interval $(7/10, 9/1...

We prove that the moduli space C(d) of plane curves of degree d (for projective equivalence) is rational except possibly if d= 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24, 26, 32, 48.

Let $C$ be a smooth curve in $\PP^2$ given by an equation F=0 of degree $d$. In this paper we parametrise all linear pfaffian representations of $F$ by an open subset in the moduli space $M_C(2,K_C)$. We construct an explicit correspondence between pfaffian representations of $C$ and rank 2 vector bundles on $C$ with canonical determinant and no sections.